The rest of the kidnappings went much the same as Stacey’s family. Jake would fly to where they were, and stoop down on them when they came out. Brian’s parents he nabbed while they walked to their car from a movie. Rachel’s he found at a cabin in the woods where Rachel said they used to go fishing. Her father had been down at the end of the dock, not fishing but crying instead when Jake picked him up. Her mother he’d had to trick out of the house with his impersonation of Rachel, but he snatched her too. Rachel’s brother proved easier because he’d been at work for a construction company on the highway overpass. His fellow coworkers had tried to save him, despite not knowing what was happening. Jake also managed to secure his family as well, though he’d been much more careful with them, as the son was only three and the daughter an infant in her mother’s arms.
Nacomi’s mother and father proved to be much harder, as they’d been on a spiritual retreat at the Reservation when he came for them. When he finally found them in a cave at the top of a waterfall, he’d had to actually enter the cave. As expected, they’d panicked and tried to flee at the sound of his entry and his breathing. Fortunately, they’d thought the entrance was clear as he’d been invisible. They ran right into him and he picked them up and threw himself off the cliff. The fright of falling had caused Nacomi’s mother to faint, a fact that she was not pleased about when Jake finally came in to land.
“Mom! Are you okay?! Jake, what were you thinking?” She yelled at him. “You could have killed her.”
“She’s fine.” Jake tried to soothe. “Just got a little frightened of the flight, kind of like you did on your first one.”
His answer did little to mollify her as she resumed patting her face and trying to wake her up. Sam and her father clustered around the unconscious woman, though Jake noticed how he kept throwing disbelieving looks back at him, and at his two daughters.
Eventually everyone calmed down and were led into one of the great dining rooms they’d discovered when they’d first moved in. It held every member of the family with room left over to host a football team and cheerleader team, and some of the groupies.
The food came prepared directly from Brian and Rachel’s hands; mostly salad and some fish which Jake nibbled delicately from his plate. He’d get a deer later, he promised his hungry stomach, and resumed watching the humans in the room.
Shyla’s mother—her only living relative—sat next to her daughter with a slightly slack-jawed expression on her face. Jake hadn’t met her before and desired to know more about Shyla’s past, wondering if he’d ever get the chance to.
Nacomi sat with her parents talking rapidly in their language, supported by Sam every now and then. Brian talked smoothly with his father, discussing the events that had happened to them so far. Rachel’s parents and brother leaned in closer to listen while his wife, a small and nervous woman, clutched their two children and kept looking around for an exit. Jake had sealed them into the mountain with the key, making the doorway vanish completely, so he didn’t fear their escape.
Serena stood placidly next to where their parents were eating, laying her horn on their shoulders for some minutes before moving to the other. Jake also knew she’d been using her power to ease the atmosphere of tension that had built up with each arrival. He was glad she’d had the ability, as it had prevented panic from breaking out.
He glanced over to the other side of the table where Tom and Stacey’s families were sitting. Tom and Stacey sat on little tables in front of them, dining on small nuts and berries while showing off their magic. Tom made a colored otter appear from his sister’s juice that danced around her four-year old blond head, making her squeal with delight, while two tiny liquid armies dressed in Greek and Trojan armor fought each other in front of his stunned older brothers. His parents, a pair of pleasant folk that Jake remembered were both accountants, didn’t even touch their food as they tried to grapple with all the things that had happened to them.
At long last the last morsel was collected and eaten and the dishes cleared away. Jakes father leaned his chair back as he folded his hands over his stomach.
“An excellent meal son. But perhaps you can start to explain yourselves a little better? I’ve overheard bits and pieces from the others to sort of grasp what’s going on, but why don’t you start at the beginning and explain a little better what is going on?”
Jake settled himself more comfortably and began to speak. He outlined their first meeting with Roland, how he and Nacomi had met and he’d fallen hard for her. She blushed at his flattering description of her while his father grinned and shook his head. His mom turned to her and studied her a little more closely, while her parents did the same to him. Jake took no notice of it and continued explaining the transformations of the full moon and their flight into the forest. Their first encounters with humans, Serena’s rescue of the child in the forest, and their efforts to remain anonymous while also searching for the store. The creation of the magic forest, the battle with Shyla (she winced at his cheerless description of the battle and withered under the scorching glares of Stacey’s sisters) and then he told of Cassandra and the fierce and inconclusive battles they’d faced in the forest, her escape, and their absolute certainty that she’d be coming back with vengeance in her heart.
When he’d finished, everyone chewed thoughtfully on the news. Nacomi had started a fire in the grand stone fireplace set in the east wall, which was carved with reliefs of the dwarven city when it was at its height and power and embossed with fantastic gems and bedecked with rivers of gold shot through the stone. They’d moved the conversation over next to it, placing the wooden chairs in a rough semicircle.
Now feeling somewhat surrounded, Jake waited to see what they would say of the tale. He didn’t wait long.
“That’s…impressive, son.” His father spoke at last. “I wouldn’t have believed it except I can see you as a dragon. I felt you as a dragon. I can’t deny my senses telling me that you are a dragon, and Serena’s a unicorn and this Lady of the Wood.” He shook his head in wonder. “This is all too much to take in. I mean, really?!”
“I know what you mean, Jeff.” Stacey’s father nodded. “I can’t get the numbers to add up in my head either. This is simply too incredible to be real, but I’m almost certain I’m awake and that this isn’t a dream.”
“It’s not, dad.” Stacey told him, flying in front of his face. “Look at me! I’m not human anymore. You can’t deny that!”
“That’s exactly what I meant, sweetie.” He told her. “You’ve got to admit this seems something more like out of a fairy tale than real life.”
“Well, if this is a fairy tale, let’s hope it wasn’t written by the Brothers Grimm, or we could have a bad ending.” Jake joked. No one laughed.
“That’s a good point, you shouldn’t be fighting. That’s something for the police and the military, not you. You should be letting them handle this.” His mother scolded.
“We can’t.” He told her bluntly. “People will die long before the police can do anything. They’ve died before we could do anything,” he admitted bitterly. “And we’re trying to do better. The fact remains though, that she’s already hinted that something worse than her is coming, and we’ve got to be ready to deal with it when the time comes. There’s no one else, as far as I’m aware of.”
His mother shook her head in disbelief. Jake didn’t press his point when she didn’t speak, he’d gone as far as he could, and it would be natural for her to still want to protect him. But he was right, there was no one else. He’d have to fight, if anyone was going to fight at all.
“All right, so why did you kidnap all of us then?” Brian’s father asked. He was barrel-chested with thick muscles on his arms and legs as befitting a former dock worker, and his red hair and beard hinted at a temper behind his placid exterior.
Jake addressed him directly. “Because Cassandra has proven resourceful, and we doubt she’ll attack us directly. She’ll most likely go after our families first, and we cannot protect you. Not all of you, not out there. But here, in the fortress, we can. You’ll be safe in here while we seek her out. And if we win, you can go home, or stay here if you want.”
Immediately a chorus of dissents came out. “That’s not going to happen! You can’t keep us prisoners! You won’t keep me! What’s the meaning of this?” echoed and overlapped each other.
“SILENCE!” Jake bellowed. Everyone winced and covered their ears.
“This isn’t a choice we can afford you. We knew that you’d be unhappy, but we know what will happen if Cassandra catches you. Though she doesn’t remember it, Sam has experienced what it is like to be a guest of the Spider Queen. The experience was awful enough that she asked us to erase her memory of the event so she could function in her life.”
“The disappearances.” Jake’s father muttered.
Jake nodded. “They didn’t disappear.” He said quietly. “They’re dead, turned into food for a horde of spiders, or fed to the hosts used by the Spider Queen for her children. Slaves, basically.”
Sam’s parents hugged her very close. She placed her hand on their arms while tears fell down all their faces. She looked up at Jake.
“Is that what I went through?” She asked.
Serena nodded.
“I remembered bits and pieces at first, but they quickly vanished and I had pleasant dreams for so long, that I wondered…” she trailed off slowly.
Jake wondered if the erasure of her memories would backfire on them. If they couldn’t convince the others of the danger, then he’d have to use force to protect them, which wasn’t something he wanted to do. He’d probably have no choice anyway, he realized. But He knew now that Dragon Ice would be the only way to keep them from trying to escape at every opportunity and falling into Cassandra’s clutches.
“Hah! See, there’s nothing to back up your claim!” Rachel’s brother shouted. “So you’re simply trying to scare us.”
He cut off as Serena leapt to her feet and strode to the center. Her horn lit up brilliantly, and from the light images took place. Jake could feel echoes too, as of emotions and thoughts at the very edge of his consciousness, as he saw Sam look at her face in the mirror, hug Nacomi good-bye, and drive to the college only to be grabbed by a spider in the parking lot. Dim bits of terror filled Jake as the spider seemed to fill the entire vision, then a ghostly feeling of the bite on his stomach. A tickling sensation as the webs bound over his eyes and sealed him in.
Jake shut out the emotions and sensations from the visions, instead watching its effects on the others. Even his friends watched with rapt attention as they witnessed Sam’s capture and eventual use by the horrendous Spider Queen. Everyone groaned in pain and held their stomach as the Queen used her tube to forcibly implant the eggs in her womb and then hung her out.
Some of the people sobbed aloud, others wept quietly, a few kept twitching like they wanted to turn away but couldn’t. At last they watched Jake come barreling into the cavern, using fire to melt a pair of spider attendants to carbon in microseconds, the flames filling the cavern with light, the flames controlled so they wouldn’t burn the humans lining the walls and dangling from the ceiling.
Jake felt a burning shame that he hadn’t used his full potential during the battle with Cassandra; even now he didn’t know why his fire hadn’t simply killed her outright, or why he hadn’t used his hottest flame. Had he been so afraid to injure the victims that he didn’t risk using it and thus let Cassandra live? Had she been armored against dragon fire the way giants of old were supposed to be? He didn’t know, but he did know that anything that could stand up to dragon fire wouldn’t be stopped by a handful of police with machine guns!
When the memory showed Sam lying on the ground at Serena’s feet, watching her own flesh writhe with the movements of the spiders inside her, many people turned green and a few almost retched. Serena flared and they stopped, looking slightly better but still not daring to let go of their middle. At last Serena healed her, and it showed the aftermath, the sleeping and the dead found, and the decision to forget everything.
When it at last went dim, Serena walked over to Sam and placed her horn on her lap.
‘I’m sorry. I have broken my word to you, to let you forget. I’m sorry.’ She whispered.
“No!” Sam cried, throwing her arms around her neck. “You did what you needed to do. I would have asked you to bring my memories back to me anyway, though I am glad to have seen what happened in this way! I think I can still sleep at night, perhaps better knowing what happened and that I have such friends as you.”
Serena nickered softly in thanks and then retreated next to Josh.
Silence reigned for a while before Jake’s father spoke.
“All right. We’ll stay.” He held his wife’s hands.
“Thanks mom, dad.” Jake said quietly.
“That goes for us as well.” Stacey’s parents said firmly. “And you four. You aren’t leaving either, Stacey.” Her father added. Stacey laughed joyously. “It’s so good to hear you say that, dad!”
One by one the others added their assent to stay. Then Brian’s dad piped up.
“How long can we actually stay here, though? We all have jobs on the outside, and while obviously the safety of our families takes priority, we can’t simply abandon all our responsibilities either. And then there’s the matter of how we are going to be able to live in here. This place is huge, I can tell that already, but what are the food supplies like? How long can we last in here?”
“The food is minimal.” Jake admitted. “Were we totally without options, we could keep this many fed for nearly a week, longer with my hunting ability and Stacey’s gardening. But there is another solution that would let us last indefinitely, even hundreds of years with maximum protection.”
Everyone looked curiously at him except his friends who’d seen his ability before.
“What do you mean?” Brian’s father asked slowly.
“I’ll answer that.” Brian said quickly. He came to stand next to Jake and laid his bow down on the flagstones. “Now, we discovered this by accident during one of our training sessions. Jake has the ability to encase any object or living creature in an impenetrable crystal lattice, stronger than diamond, for any length of time. The subject is encased like so,” he gestured as Jake froze the bow, making a long slim crystalline tube which Brian then picked up and waved around, smacking it into the stones hard, then asking for Rachel’s mother’s large diamond ring, which he then scratched at the surface, showing no wear at all.
“As you can see, this material is the strongest we’ve yet discovered. I would not hesitate to call it the best on earth. You will be in hibernative states inside such crystals. Hours, days, even weeks are almost indeterminate once inside. We’ve tested it on living animals as well as ourselves; nothing can harm you inside, not even an apocalypse, which makes it the best choice in this type of situation.”
“I understand your fear and concern.” He added over their silence. “So please allow me to demonstrate.”
He removed his weapons and shirt, standing calmly in front of them all. Jake encased him in Dragon Ice, sealing it to the floor in a broad base. When he finished, Rachel stepped up and invited everyone to get a better look.
Immediately Brian’s parents leapt up and raced across to where their son stood calmly. They beat on it with their fists, kicked it, pried at the corners with all of their strength and succeeded to do nothing. The crystal remained unmoved by their efforts.
Jake quickly released his friend and after a second of disorientation, he reassured his worried parents that he was quite all right.
The demonstration proved to be most effective, and the relieved people then began talking about it earnestly.
To Jake’s chagrin, his own parents proved the most opposed to the plan. Not that they felt there wasn’t danger, but that there could be more danger than Jake realized. They wanted to fight as well. Jake loved them for it even more, but it wouldn’t be practical, he pointed out. The creatures they were facing could survive a hit from dragon’s fire, something that could burn tank armor. With the guns available, or any type of weapon really, there just wasn’t any way for them to be effective fighters.
Naturally, they argued the point, but Jake was adamant. They could not engage in offensive operations.
Once he’d gotten them to stop demanding the right to fight, he had to deal with Brian’s parents insisting that the plan would be extremely hazardous as there was a slight chance Jake could die and so there’d be no one to wake them up again.
To satisfy them, they had to devise a plan where a container for the unfreezing mist would be placed in the vault with them so that Stacey or another could come and release them all.
There were more arguments of course, but they remained unmoving as they met each argument with their points.
It stayed well after midnight before Serena finally called a halt to the proceedings.
“This is becoming pointless. We’ve argued the point round and round this evening and it is late. Perhaps tomorrow will bring fresh insights and we can resolve this after a night sleep. We can all show you to where you’ll sleep tonight.”
She’d adopted her Lady persona and it had stunned the assembled with her beauty. Their mom had repeatedly touched her hair and stroked her arm wonderingly, as if trying constantly reassuring herself that it was all real.
“Serena makes a good point.” Jake rumbled. “This would be a good time to call it quits. We can talk some more about it in the morning and see how we feel about it then.”
Everyone grudgingly accepted this, and they scattered into many little groups as each changed led their parent or sibling to their bed.
Jake strode his way back to his golden couch while Serena showed their parents to their bedroom. Jake thought she’d sleep with them tonight, seeing as how it could be her last opportunity for a long while. He didn’t begrudge her that, though he wished he could sleep in the room as well. His size prevented that, however.
Once asleep, Jake found himself having an uncomfortable dream where Cassandra figured prominently, lording over the wrapped cocoon of Nacomi, who stared lifelessly at him over a obscenely swollen belly that twisted and writhed in a horrifying manner.
Jake awoke from it in a cold sweat, wondering if he dared take the next step.
No one rose that morning, so they didn’t actually meet again until late afternoon after everyone had been shown around the Fortress some more. A side passage had proven to be a main road that led further into the mountain, where great palaces and fine mansions could be found, all spiraling downward around a central shaft which led to a grand plaza below.
The amount of room in this great Fortress City staggered the imagination. The more he explored, the greater it seemed. At the bottom were three sealed treasure vaults that he wondered would be safe for the parents to hide in, rather than the huge warehouse they’d already found.
The doors were locked solidly and they searched in vain for a while to find the method to open it. They pushed on them, they tried various spells of opening that Shyla could think of, they tried speaking to them and commanding them to open. Nothing seemed to work.
At last Jake happened to notice a pattern of five statues set equidistant from each other in the middle of the floor. Interested, he tried to move one and it twisted where it stood!
Excited, Jake called to the others and they rotated the statue until they felt it shudder to a stop with a mighty click.
They ran to the next nearest statue and immediately twisted it as well, but the first statue reset.
“Stop!” Cried Brian. “There’s a pattern here, and we need to discover it before any of the doors will open.”
After an hour of experimentation, they hit upon it. It was the farthest east statue, followed by the furthest west, then south, northeast and north. When the last dwarf slid into position, there was a hollow boom and one of the vaults opened.
Inside were fabulous tapestries, scrolls, statues, carved gems and murals of fantastic history of both men and elves and dwarves.
“A vault of their history and culture.” Rachel suggested, awed. She practically trembled with excitement at the thought if exploring the pieces lying around.
“Let’s try the others.” Jake suggested. He was interested in the treasure, but he found the large space far more useful. It would hold their family members comfortably with room for a thousand more. Not as spacious as the warehouse, perhaps, but better protected.
Leaving the History Vault, they sought the next pattern, and located it in an identical pattern as the first, but with the northernmost dwarf being first. The second vault contained gold coins, pots, drinking vessels, plates, armor, statues, and bars. There seemed enough gold to make Fort Knox seem trite. The effect was startling, and Jake could feel his dragon lust start to rise. He quashed it firmly and left before anyone noticed his desire.
The last vault contained silver, in nearly identical fashion as the first. The wealth that was on display staggered everyone, and it remained a silent group that ascended the stairs.
At the dinner table, Jake broached the subject again.
“The vaults seem to me the best place to keep the families safe for the expected attack. Cassandra would have a hard time moving those statues, even is she can breach the outer gate. It would be centuries before she could get inside, only to find her efforts were for nothing.”
“Now hold on, we aren’t going to stand around looking pretty.” His father said grimly. “We’ll take this Cassandra person together.”
“Dad, you won’t be able to, not even if you were in a tank. Cassandra is simply too strong and too wily to be taken in such a manner. I appreciate the offer, I really do. And, if we could find a way to safely supply this place, I would much prefer that you stay awake and help me with the upkeep. It’s nice, but I want to make sure the original owners find it in better condition than when they left. I’m only renting it, you might say, after all.”
His father set his jaw stubbornly and began arguing again. Jake sighed and strove to master his temper while he patiently explained why his ideas wouldn’t work.
This is getting monotonous. I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to leave them here awake anyway. They might like that better in the first…no, that wouldn’t work. They’d try to escape or worn their friends, and then we’d have serious problems. Jake grimaced. It just wouldn’t work any other way.
Fate intervened before the match could go on much longer. The songbird came rushing into the middle of the group as they sat in the dining hall again, screaming madly.
“What the heck is wrong with that critter?” Jakes father asked, staring angrily at the creature that’d interrupted him.
“He’s a Chickadee.” Jake said laughingly. The laughter died as he finally caught the phrases the bird had been using.
“No!” He shouted in alarm. His eyes locked with Serena who’d managed to understand quicker than him. The rest just looked confused.
“What is it? What’s going on? Is the bird actually speaking to you? Why are you talking to a bird?” Everyone asked at once.
“We’ve delayed too long! Cassandra’s out and attacking the ranger station!” Jake shouted. “She’s summoning us to her field to save the people she’s taken.”
He gave vent to his rage and frustration. The mountain shook under his wrath, tables jumped and chairs overturned and the families and friends took cover with their hands over their ears.
“We must move quickly! Don’t argue! This may be a trick to gain access to the mountain.”
“No hold on, there may be…” Stacey’s father began
“No arguments!” Jake said. “We must hurry.”
Before they could argue further Jake covered them in mist. There were a variety of shouts and screams that were quickly cut off.
When the mist cleared, the humans were encased in Dragon Ice.
“What did you do that for?!” Stacey cried.
“Cassandra.” Jake said shortly. She has to have a reason for drawing us out so quickly. Something we haven’t seen or thought of yet. This step is necessary, no hurry! We can discuss this more after our victory.”
I hope. He added silently.
They carried the statues of their family down to the Vault of History and sealed it tight. Then Jake flew up the passageway towards the door.
He issued from his gates into the last stretch of cavern with his friends hard on his heels. They turned and stopped up the gate. The door sealed tight behind them, leaving no sign of any such thing in the small mountain cave. Just to make sure, Jake checked the signs for any hint of trouble. A single spider spun its webs innocently next to the cave mouth, but before Jake could have Serena question it, the songbird raced forward and ate it, twittering madly.
“Well don, my friend.” Jake told him. “But I have a special job for you. Please guard the entrance to the cave against spiders. If they attack in large numbers, come and get one of us.”
The bird settled on a stone outcrop and sang happily. Confident that his home would be well-guarded, Jake rushed forward into the night. Spreading his wings he took off with Shyla, Stacey, Tom and Asbiorn riding his back. Serena, Rachel, and Brian would run, hoping to be there soon after Jake’s attack. Rachel and Brian were armed with their bows and sword and shield, there’d been not time to don their armor. Serena’s horn glowed brightly in the gloom as she rushed into the forest, calling for aid.
The forest responded at once. Trees shifted and rustled, beginning to move towards the ranger station. Birds screamed and soared above in great flocks while on the ground wolves joined together in greater and greater packs while bears shambled along at a great pace in pairs.
Not for centuries has such an army gathered, Jake thought to himself. This could be the edge we desperately need. He wondered what Cassandra’s plan would be, striking so early. He wondered what made her so confident that she would move so boldly after their last encounter with so little time to recruit new strength.
As he thought these things, he began to feel a little afraid deep inside.